Beginnings and Endings

This was my bulletin article from last week. I will give a trip recap by the end of the week.

This week I am on vacation and visiting my fiancé in Texas. Primarily we are hoping to solidify our wedding plans. We will be registering, visiting family, getting some pictures, and figuring out what our budget for our upcoming wedding (December 31st in Tyler, TX at Lakeview Church of the Nazarene). There is a lot of stress, but also a lot of joy in being able to plan this (honestly, she probably has more stress than I do). We are definitely looking forward to starting our life together. As we are getting everything planned, I started thinking about our wedding, this a lot of preparation for a once in a lifetime event. The wedding is just the beginning. It is our life together that will need to be the testimony of our loving Savior.

It seems in some of the most important things, there is a lot of emphasis put on the beginning. However, the real test is living out the commitments that we make. Lots of things can be started, but it is how they are finished that truly matters. Weddings are a great thing, but it is only the beginning. The testimony can be given by an older couple that has lived out “till death do you part.” Those that have had the misfortune and pain of a broken marriage can tell you the difficulty of picking up the pieces from a broken covenant and feeling like they didn’t reach the finish line. Baptisms are celebrated, and should be, but it is a life of faithful living that really matters. The baptism is only the beginning. The end of a covenant fulfilled usually does not carry the same celebration as the beginning. There are many who start the race, but not everyone finishes.

In the world of sports there is much made of the beginning of the season. But at the end there is only one team left standing. The others, for all the celebration and hopes, come up short of the goal. It is not in how a team starts, but how they finish that they are known and remembered for.

Paul understood this when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:25-27, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” A good marriage is not made by a good wedding, but by a faithfulness to God and each other. A good Christian is not made by the baptism, but by a life characterized by faith, hope, and love.

Paul is a testimony to a life of faith lived well. Later as he writes what is likely his last letter we have in Scripture, he tells Timothy “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).” While Paul always looked to his conversion on the road to Damascus, it is this statement that shows he kept the covenant.

I am looking forward to our wedding and the celebration of love in Christ we have. But it is only the beginning. I must look ahead to learn how to be the best husband and father I can be. I want to be able to live in such a way that at the end of my life, I can say those same words of Paul and be able to hear those words from Jesus I so long to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” It is the ending that really matters.